It appears like head honchos of the gaming industry aren’t particularly excited about Microsoft’s upcoming OS. Blizzard’s Executive VP of Game Design Rob Prado tweeted that Windows 8 is “not awesome for Blizzard either”.

The tweet came as response to the interview with Valve’s Gabe Newell, where he said that Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space. Newell forecasted that many top tier PC makers will leave the market and talked up the importance of open platforms, pointing out the company’s recent outreach to Linux.

Seeing as how Prado is held in quite high regard both by Blizzard and the likes of Time Magazine, his opinion surely cannot be ignored that easily. Judging by mere size and influence of the companies we’re talking here, this is definitely not the end of it. And while we'd be normally be inclined to tell Mr. Prado to focus on that offline Diablo singleplayer first and then go about his Windows 8 bashing, we'll let it slide this once.

Speaking to VentureBeat, Valve's co-founder and chief executive Gabe Newell shed some light on what we could or should expect when it comes to future of gaming, and he definitely raises some interesting points.

Newell pointed out the problematic of closed platforms and the fact that although lucrative, the concept poses a threat to innovation. He reminded that companies such as Valve, id Software, Epic, Facebook and Google wouldn't have come to exist had there not been for the PC and the openness of the entire platform.

Newell said Windows 8 is "kind of a catastrophe for everybody in the PC space". He said he fears that some top tier PC manufacturers will exit the market due to destroyed margins.

Valve sees Linux as part of the solutioin and is keen on making sure it thrives. Seeing as how the company is sure that absence of games is among the main culprits, Newell said:" So we’re going to continue working with the Linux distribution guys, shipping Steam, shipping our games, and making it as easy as possible for anybody who’s engaged with us — putting their games on Steam and getting those running on Linux, as well."

Indeed, the announcement of Steam, Left 4 Dead 2 and more recently Serious Sam 3 confirms that Valve is making a strong effort towards giving Linux a hand, even if it's for gaming alone.

Newell also delved into the ever evolving controls and what we should expect after mouse & keyboard, touch and even beyond. All in all, the interview is quite a nice and informative read and you can find it in full here.